Despite my post the other day, I’ve not really been thinking too much about the N. Korea nuclear thing, but I was reading a New York Times opinion piece by Jimmy Carter and agree with his closing, so thought I’d post it:

What must be avoided is to leave a beleaguered nuclear nation convinced that it is permanently excluded from the international community, its existence threatened, its people suffering horrible deprivation and its hard-liners in total control of military and political policy.

Just prior to this, he comments that a “a small nuclear test is a far cry from even a crude deliverable bomb” (implying that N. Korea is not fully nuclear yet), but the whole point of his piece is that the current U.S. stance of refusing to engage in direct talks, exerting political pressure, making threats, and imposing embargoes will only lead to N. Korea becoming further entrenched and more determined to develop nuclear weapons.